Kate Shelley and the Midnight Express
"Kate Shelley and the Midnight Express" is Episode 9 in Season 9. It originally aired on September 26, 1991. Synopsis The episode begins with a montage of trains rolling by. LeVar says, "It seems that trains are always in motion. But even once in a while, a train must stop and cool its wheels." He welcomes the viewers at the Los Angeles Trainyard where some get cleaned up and tuned up before they can hit the rails again. To be safe, he is wearing a hard hat and goggles. Rosie Ellis, one of the engineers, stops to say hi to him. An engineer is the person who drives, or operates, the train. She shows him and the viewers parts of it. The front is called the locomotive. The engine is 3,000-horsepower, and the whole train weighs a quarter of a million pounds. The wheels and track are made of steel. To keep the former from coming off, they are guided against the latter by steel lips called flanges. The train runs on diesel fuel and its tank can hold up to 1,800 gallons of it. The locomotive is hooked onto the other cars with steel knuckles and power cables to give the train its electricity. The place inside it where the engineer drives the train is called the cab. Rosie shows how the train is operated and how it goes. LeVar even gets to blow the whistle. Normally, you take the train to get to a specific location. LeVar is going to ride it just for fun. He is going to travel from Los Angeles to Seattle. He will be doing so near the Pacific coast and spending the night on board the Coast Star Light, the name of the train he'll be riding on. Before the trip, the locomotive gets hooked up to the other cars and then mail and supplies are loaded. The train then gets pulled up to the station platform where the passengers are waiting to get on board. After LeVar waves goodbye to Rosie, he jumps aboard his passenger car. He loves starting a new trip by train. After he checks the view, the conductor comes by and asks for his ticket. LeVar gives it to him and they wish each other a good trip. On a long train trip, LeVar has lots of time to read. To get it started, he reads a suspenseful story, which is the title book. Since the main/title character in the title book's heroism, there have been many people who kept everyone safe on the railroad. Such people like Rosie know all about that. She blows the whistle when she comes near a railroad crossing to warn anyone approaching the tracks. It means that nobody, but NOBODY, should play on there because it's dangerous. Stopping a train takes longer than stopping a car. Rosie says that she loves being an engineer because she grew up near a railroad track. She loved watching the trains go by her house. She loves operating the Coast Star Light by the Pacific coast. If she knows that she's having a good time in the locomotive, the people in their cars are too. LeVar tells the viewers that trains were one of the earliest modes of transportation. They've been around longer than planes and cars. The first ones didn't go as fast as they do today and looked a bit funny. Soon, the faster and most popular ones were the steam locomotives. Settlers couldn't travel westward by train, so people began constructing the Transcontinental Railroad. One team of spikers laid down track starting in the east and another did so from California. The two railroad lines were connected in Promontory, Utah in spring 1869. A song all about the Transcontinental Railroad is heard to show the whole picture. Since then, train travel became very popular. Steam-, electric-, and diesel-powered ones are fast and cleaner than the streamline ones that burned coal. They have cars with all the amenities one can wish from like restaurants and bedrooms. They are like mobile hotels. LeVar looks through the train to find his bedroom. The first car he explores is the observation one. It's where you can get a good view of the scenery during your ride. He goes through another one, but still no bedroom. The next one he passes through is a restaurant on rails. Finally, he finds the one where his bedroom is. He looks about and sees that it looks like a small hotel room. It has a little sink, little soaps and cups, and even a shower and toilet together. He looks around for his bed and finds that it's a pull-down type. He says that there's nothing like a good night's sleep on a train. He loves listening to the rhythm of the rails and feeling the motion of the train because it soothes him to sleep. He is never too tired for a good bedtime story. When the Coast Star Light arrives at the train station in Seattle, LeVar gets off. He tells the viewers, "Trains are so much fun to ride on. You're almost sorry to get where you're going." He is lucky though, because he gets to go back home and guess how's he doing so. He's taking the train home! A reprise of the song about the Transcontinental Railroad is played during the closing credits. Review Books *The Train to Lulu's *The Little Engine That Could *The Polar Express Category:Season 9 Category:Episodes